 What is essential to your life…something you can’t live without?
When I asked this question in a youth group chat, the responses included: Oxygen and Water, Family and Friends, Hope, Love, and Goals, Spotify and Blankets. (music and safe spaces!) Bread was a staple, essential to life and a part of everyday living to the communities of people Jesus was a part of. Life giving tasks were connected to daily bread. Bread was affordable. Bread was an daily activity. Harvesting gain, grinding to flour, kneading the dough, molding the loaf, baking the bread, breaking the bread, and sharing the bread. It seems as if it is no mistake that the words of the prayer that Jesus gave to his friends as an example of how to pray would included something of such personal need and as commonly known as daily bread. Bread was life. However, it is the word daily that for me is the most important and key word in this part of the prayer. For me, connecting with God is also essential, a main staple to my everyday living and maybe for those who are also seekers of the Ways of God. Isn't it interesting how purposefully creating space for something makes a huge difference to its possible accessibility? I recently saw a meme on social media that made this very point. Take this sentence…God Nowhere. Now, intentionally create some space between the letters and the result is…God Now Here. It all depends on the space you are willing to create. Making space to connect with God daily, kneading God into our daily lives, acknowledging that we don’t need much. We don’t need anything extravagant, except God’s Goodness. And like daily bread, we can make the seeking of God an activity of daily living and then sharing that gift of goodness with everyone. The Lord's prayer when said together is a beautiful and collective prayer. So, when we pray together… Give us this day our daily bread, we are making a collective ask to make sure the most essential of daily needs of all are met. And, we can also pray for what is also essential to our daily living by praying, God, let us create space for You everyday, Your presence is essential to our lives. Amen. My Lord's Prayer interpretation continues. This has been a very enlightening practice of creating my own very personal prayer that embodies my unique personal connection with the God of my understanding, based on the prayer that Jesus taught his friends pray. Here is what has evolved after 6 weeks... Our God, Who's art is heaven, Holy is your name. Holy are you, Holy am I, Holy are we together. May Your radical Kin-dom come, A Divine collaboration between us, In the here and now, and in the ever after. God, let us create space for You everyday, Your presence is essential to our lives.
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 Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven' God’s will, what in goodness name is that?! Perhaps the answer is in the question…God’s Goodness is God’s will. God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven…this takes our participation, accomplices and Divine Collaboration. Not waiting on God’s will to intervene but working with God and people together. People willing to share God’s Goodness and love and hope and compassion. Those who choose to be God’s Goodness now and for the future and for the ever-after are proof of God’s will on earth as it is within God. Who are some living examples of Divine Collaborators working with God to bring this Goodness into our world? Holy Troublemakers and Unconventional Saints is a book created by Daneen Akers that began as a Kickstarter campaign. I was very happy to contribute to this amazing book filled with the stories of Divine Collaborators of God's Goodness. The holy troublemakers and unconventional saints in this book are people of faith who have worked for love, compassion, inclusion and justice in their own corners of the world, even when that meant rocking the boat of the communities of faith they come from. While their lives look very different, what each troublemaker and saint have in common is that they use their faith in love and God’s goodness for the good and betterment of everyone. Let me introduce you to some of these Holy Troublemakers and Unconventional Saints from Daneen Akers Book and what of God's Goodness they have to share. Mary Magdalene, Disciple of Jesus: 'Everyone is called to share Good News'. Alice Paul, Women's Rights Activist: 'Resistance to exclusion is Godly'. Fred Rodgers, Minister & Children's advocate: Learning to appreciate each other is sacred. Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of Animals: 'Peaceful service to others is serving God'. Cindy Wang Brandt, Author: 'Inclusion is more important than any religion'. Harriet Tubman, Abolitionist and Political Activist: 'Everyone can help another be free.' Rabbi Regina Jonas, First Ordained Female Rabbi: 'Prejudice cannot stop us from what we are called to be'. Amanda Gorman, Poet: 'We can write our own Liberation'. Rachel Held Evans, Author and Blogger: 'It’s OK to have big question and doubts'. Kaitlin Curtice, Potawatomi Nation Ingenious Spiritual Leader: 'Sharing stories of origin create belonging.' Maryam Molkara, Iranian Transgender Activist: 'Being True to yourself frees others'. Bayard Rustin, Civil Rights Activist: 'Non-Violent protest is Holy Action'. Maybe we, humanity at our best and most loving, are God’s will… We all have been created with the abilities and the possibilities to be Goodness in the world. To be called to serve others, to share God’s peace, to model the actions of Jesus’ and other holy troublemakers and unconventional saints. We must participate in the labor of co-creation with God through living and loving and co-creating God’s Goodness on earth as is within God. Our God, Whose Art is Heaven, Holy is Your name! Holy are you, Holy am I, Holy are we together. May Your radical Kin-dom come, A Divine Collaboration between us, in the here and the now, and in the ever-after.  What is the difference between Kingdom and Kin-dom? Kingdom was a radical protest and Kin-dom is radical relationship. Let me explain... The use of the word ‘Kingdom’ was a radical protest…there were Kingdoms that were oppressive to the communities of Jesus time and place. This wording is Jesus’ alternative to the Roman Empire. The Kingdom of God will be radically different than all the others. Your Kingdom Come…God’s Kingdom. Kin-dom however, is defined as the full diversity and relationship of all of God’s children come together. Kinship is connection, how we connect to each other. It’s being in radical relationship. It is recognizing all God's children. Your Kin-dom come. I learned about this creating of God’s Kin-dom or Kinship on our 2018 Youth Group Learning and Service Trip to Los Angeles and our visit to Homeboy Industries founded by Father Gregory Boyle. Homeboy Ind. is the world's largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program. When we visited Homeboy Ind. we learned from former gang members who gave us a tour, explained their programs and answered our questions. They shared their own transformation stories. Homeboy Ind. provides education, skill and job training, tattoo removal, an art academy, mental health, and social services. We were lucky to have lunch that day provided by Homegirl Café and Catering. Gregory Boyle teaches us that God’s love and compassion brings unity among us. Kinship is inclusion and radical acceptance. If there is no kinship there is no peace, no kinship no justice, no kinship no community. God’s Kin-dom is unfulfilled as long as there are people suffering at the margins. People left out. People ignored. People excluded. People trapped behind barriers of shame and brokenness. The poor, the powerless, and the voiceless. The homeless, the immigrant, the gang member…Jesus didn’t cure people, he healed people through inclusion. Jesus brought the marginalized into the whole of radical kinship. S0, lets us challenge ourselves to try out saying…Your Radical Kin-dom come. This part of the Lord’s Prayer is a prayer for a brave new world. What choices will we make and how will we create God’s intended Radical Kinship into reality? Our God, Whose Art is Heaven, Holy is Your name! Holy are you, Holy am I, Holy are we together. May Your radical Kin-dom come, “Only the soul that ventilates the world with tenderness has any chance of changing the world.” --Fr. Gregory Boyle  Hallowed is a word I never really know what to do with. It's a word I rarely hear used in modern conversation. Hallowed is a word that descends from the Middle/Old English halowen. That word can in turn be traced back to Old English for "holy." During the Middle Ages, All Hallows' Day was the name for what Christians now call All Saints' Day, and the evening that preceded All Hallows' Day was All Hallow Even-or, as we know it today, Halloween. Hallowed people, hallowed places, hallowed objects, hallowed traditions. Hallowed is just a fancy word for holy, honored or sacred.
Hallowed for many is most familiar from the Lord's Prayer's use of the word.. 'Hallowed be your name' which is really just a fancy way of saying Holy be your name. This language seems so much more approachable and understandable to me. And yet, we complicate matters by the use of the word 'be', 'Hallowed be thy name...' Be your name to me sounds like an ask, a petition or even a command to be holy, rather than a exclamation of knowingness. What if I said, "Holy is your name." instead? Let's go really crazy and add an exclamation point to that..."Holy is your name!" When I say, "Holy is your name", my prayer becomes the way, the care, the thought or the attitude with which I approach God and the way in which God approaches me. And all that is Holy should be attainable and shared by everyone. You are Holy. I am Holy. We are Holy. Together we stand Holy. This is a prayer of inclusion if you acknowledge that God's holiness is within us and shared between us. Holy is your name, God! Holy are we together! As my personal rambling reflections on the Lord's Prayer continue, my very own personal version of the Lord's Prayer is taking shape...(you can read previous posts as to how this interpretation is manifesting.) Our God, Whose Art is Heaven, Holy is Your name! Holy are you, Holy am I, Holy are we together.   Uniting voices in saying the Lord's Prayer together is a valued ritual in most Christian worship services. I was never taught to say the Lord's Prayer. I just knew it by listening and repeating it in unison with the entirety of congregation from the time I was a child.
Sometimes, there is a difference in what we hear vs. what is actually being said. I have shared moments with children when they have repeated and offered what they heard which was much different from what was being said. Such as...'the pizza Christ be with you' or thinking the word 'Narthex' was a character from the 'Lorax'. I have also heard more than once...'Our God Whose Art in Heaven'. Imagine it!! Heaven as the most amazing art gallery of God's creation. I like it! How would you draw heaven? What would it look like? Where would it be? Who would be there? Feeling artsy and inspired by the idea of God's Art Gallery, here is how I painted heaven from my mind. If I were asked, where is heaven, here is how I would respond. It is right there…in the invisible space between us. Like when you have just the right viewing spot and can see the sun rise and the moon set at the same time. Right there, all that space in-between. Because if we are looking for heaven elsewhere, we will never find it. But if we know we can have it now and forever we can share in it together and always. We can choose heaven and fill the space with goodness or we can choose to fill it with divisiveness and make it a smaller and smaller space. We can investigate its light or it’s darkness. We can choose how heaven will be revealed between us. Heaven. The space in between us to be filled with and make room for…kindness, warmth, comfort, generosity, forgiveness. The people we love and who love us fill the space. It’s for everyone to experience. You see, God is within us and around us now and forever. And Jesus wanted us to experience it (heaven) in the now as well as the ‘after now’. So, if we know that God is within and all around us, then so is heaven. So, where is heaven? Heaven is where God is. Heaven is who God is. Heaven is what God is. Heaven is how God is. Heaven is the space between us, do it well. Our God, whose art is Heaven! Indeed!  God is bigger and more mysterious than we can possibly imagine. Although we try. No matter how many words, names, pictures, or metaphors we can come up with there will always be more. Try this to help you find the God of your understanding. When I was in college, I used to make what I called a 'Do Page' short for doodle page. I’d make them for friends as an expression of how I was thinking about them. Like an artistic payer without spoken words. Try making a Do Page for God…all the words, names, and images that you think of when thinking of God. This can help us find a way into whom we are praying to when we pray. (I've attached a Doodle Page below to help you creatively pray your words, names and images for the God of your understanding) When the disciples wanted to know how to pray…Jesus’ gave them a prayer to pray…not a command, but an example. Perhaps even a compilation of prayers he knew, made into one community-oriented prayer that Jesus started and his community (past and present) continues. It starts with…Our and Father. But why father if so many other words, names and images can be attributed to God? Jesus’ community was treated cruelly. The rulers of then, took most of their money and possessions. They didn’t take care of people or help them each have a full and healthy life. At that time, Roman Caesars (much like a King) were often called 'Fathers'. Like many marginalized communities of now…Jesus reclaimed the word Father as a metaphor for God as a loving and caring like a parent and gave the emphasis to Our. Our father….a direct call out of the oppressive rulers that a Loving Caring God was their ruler. As communities grow and change, the language of the prayer probably should as well. As we continue to evolve in spiritual formation and understanding. What’s important is how we are united in praying it together. Our Father, mother, parent, love, hope and unity. Amen. 
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AuthorStaci Schulmerich Archives
January 2025
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